REDACT
redact, v. To put (matter) into proper literary form; to work up, arrange, or edit. 1851. - SOED.
Why attend Redact?
1. Experience intensive training led by expert presenters.
2. Share ideas and creative work with other editors.
3. Be inspired by stimulating discussions.
4. Learn new editing techniques and fresh approaches to the author–editor relationship.
5. Develop a book from concept to publication.
6. Discover a whole new field of editing.
7. Spend professional ‘quality time’ with peers.
8. Have fun and relax in the country.
Feedback from participants at Redact 2006
- “Everything to do with fiction editing was fascinating and valuable. I would have loved to have picked Sarah’s and other colleagues’ brains for hours.”
- “I enjoyed working with fantastically stimulating writing samples, ms and editorial documents.”
- “The best aspect was hearing from Paul and other participants about other ways of doing things that I may not have thought of or had previous exposure to.”
- “I very much enjoyed Paul’s sessions. He was very approachable and flexible and led the discussion without ever being overbearing. He encouraged each of us to contribute.”
- “Enjoyed the collaborative project-style method of working on a theoretical book. Lots of enthusiasm and more understanding of the pitfalls and benefits of the project.”
- “Excellent teaching – inclusive but decisive and directive as needed. Very thoughtful preparation.”
- “Good mix of in-house/freelance and very experienced/less experienced participants made it stimulating and valuable – certainly for me, probably for everyone.”
Redact is one of the Society of Editors (Victoria)'s initiatives in editorial training. Redact is a residential weekend course that offers intensive study of processes and principles in a collegial setting. The inaugural Redact was held on 27-29 October 2006 and was voted a great success by the participants.
The program had broad appeal, designed to benefit both experienced and beginning editors, freelance and in-house. Participants worked in teams on a publishing project, taking it from raw MS through to polished end-product. The focus was on collaborative learning, and we expected that the participants would develop lasting friendships and networks.
Redact 2007 will be held at Mansfield on 12, 13 and 14 October 2007. Participants will choose one of three strands, delivered by a highly experienced editor and educator:
• Fiction (Sarah Brenan)
• Biography (Bryony Cosgrove)
• Trade (Paul Watt)
The venue is the Alzburg Inn Resort in Mansfield, gateway to the Victorian high country and just over 200 km from Melbourne. Mansfield is a 2.5 to 3 hour drive from Melbourne by car or by V-Line bus leaving from Southern Cross Station.
For more details and to register, see the Redact 2007 information sheet and registration form.
Course content
Biography strand
Writing biography has been described as ‘walking on ashes’; editing biography and autobiography could be described as walking on eggshells. Life writing is very personal, dealing as it does with someone’s life, their memories, their pain and happiness, their grudges, ambitions and desires. It is these elements that make the genre so popular. In the biography/autobiography strand we will discuss the importance of the author–editor working relationship and the range of issues involved with editing in this genre. We will workshop the manuscript of an autobiography and will look at specific editorial concerns that arose with a range of other manuscripts.
Biography course outline
Presenter Bryony Cosgrove has nearly 30 years’ experience in the publishing industry as an editor and publisher of a wide range of books. She is a recipient of the FAW Barbara Ramsden Award and the Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship. Since 1993 she has also lectured in publishing and writing courses at universities, TAFE colleges and writers’ centres around Australia. She is a member of the editorial board of the online journal The Fine Print and is currently undertaking a PhD at Monash University’s School of Historical Studies. In 2007 her book Portrait of a Friendship: the letters of Barbara Blackman and Judith Wright 1950–2000 was published by Miegunyah Press.
Fiction strand
What makes a memorable novel opening? How can one assess the underlying structure of fiction? Is it possible to talk at all coherently about that elusive concept, style? What are the essential components of a strong author–editor relationship? These and other questions will be workshopped in the fiction strand. Weaving in and out of these topic sessions will be continuing discussions on a draft novel MS which will be sent to participants some time before the course takes place. If Redact 2006 is any guide, the discussions will be ardent, wide-ranging and a lot of fun.
Fiction course outline
Presenter Sarah Brenan has been editing books for over 30 years—initially in academic publishing, then in many disparate fields as a freelancer, and for the last decade or so in books for children and young adults—and has 20 years experience in fiction editing. From 2002 to 2006 she coordinated and taught an undergraduate subject at the University of Melbourne, and has now embarked on an MA in Publishing and Communications, with a focus on structure in fiction. Sarah is Senior Editor with Allen & Unwin in Melbourne.
Trade strand
With easy access to recipes online, in weekend newspapers and supermarkets—and celebrity cookbooks clogging most bookstores—is it at all possible to publish a cookbook that will stand out from the crowd and be a success without a big production budget, cross-media advertising and celebrity ‘author’? As a team of development editors, our task for the Redact weekend is to come up with two new ideas for innovative cookbooks. The cynics will say that this brief is impossible, but through thinking creatively, strategically and historically, we will set out to prove them wrong. Before the weekend gets underway, participants will need to do some basic market research by visiting two bookstores, and to make a list of their favourite foods and cookbooks.
Trade course outline
Presenter Paul Watt has 15 years’ experience in the publishing industry and has worked for the Gale Group (UK), Addison Wesley Longman and Cambridge University Press (Australia and UK). He has worked on numerous trade books, from encyclopedias to coffee-table books, as well as academic monographs and journals. He has also been a bookseller—at the then-named Dillons, in Oxford. Paul has taught in the University of Melbourne’s Publishing and Communications program and his PhD, undertaken at the University of Sydney, is presently under examination. Currently he is a research officer in the School of Music at Monash University, and is a contributor to the forthcoming Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism.
Redact 2006
The three strands in the 2006 program were fiction (Sarah Brenan), education (Glenys Osbourne) and trade (Paul Watt).
Sarah, Glenys and Paul put much energy into planning and carrying out an action-packed program. Both in-house and freelance editors gained a great deal from this initiative, whether they were highly experienced or newer to the profession.
| 